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This aerogel insulation could be used in fuel cell systems, oil and
gas pipelines, and in building and construction applications.

A sprayable aerogel insulation has
been developed that has good mechanical
integrity and lower thermal conductivity
than incumbent polyurethane
spray-on foam insulation, at similar or
lower areal densities, to prevent insulation
cracking and debonding in an
effort to eliminate the generation of inflight
debris.

This new, lightweight aerogel under
bead form can be used as insulation in
various thermal management systems
that require low mass and volume, such
as cryogenic storage tanks, pipelines,
space platforms, and launch vehicles.
These aerogel beads, with a packing
density of 0.03 to 0.05 g/cm3, can be
used as pour-in, formable, or sprayable
insulation, showing versatility in a variety
of applications.

Silica and organically modified silica
aerogel beads in a mixture with binders
or foams can be formed into complex
shapes, or sprayed onto panels. The aerogel
composites have a fast cure, and have
good mechanical strength at densities of
0.05 to 0.15 g/cm3. Compression modulus
for the aerogel bead/foam composite
was 60 percent higher than the one from
the foam without aerogel dopant.

Lightweight aerogel beads can be
used in sprayable form together with a
carrier for on-site applications. The
sprayable thermal insulator has several
advantages, such as a large temperature
range of operation (from cryogenic
temperatures to +300 °C), facile on-site
installation, can be cured at room temperature,
is mechanically robust and
durable, and has excellent thermal performance
insulation capability. This
innovation is also water repellent, but
does not trap gases or cryogenic liquids
and, consequently, does not pose cryopumping
and cryoingestion problems.

This thermal management system can
be applied in either an automated or
manual spraying process with less sensitivity
to process chemistry and environmental
parameters than spray-on foam
insulation (SOFI) products like a commercially
produced polyurethane foam
used on the Space Shuttle External
Tank, while providing better insulation
performance. The aerogel bead bindersprayed
panel, with a thermal conductivity
of 20 to 25 mW/mK, outperformed
the commercial foam by 30 to
40 percent in the 10 to 100 °C temperature
range.

The aerogel compositions developed
for this innovation withstand repeated
cycles of high enthalpy shear flows of 20
to 100 Pa at temperatures tested up to
370 °C without losing mechanical
integrity. Thermal management systems
with versatile installation based on aerogel
beads represent a significant opportunity
for improving performance of
systems for long-term cryogenic propellant
storage or transfer for mechanisms
operating in cryogenic temperature
environments, space transportation, and
propulsion systems.

This work was done by Danny Ou, Roxana
Trifu, and Gregory Caggiano of Aspen
Aerogels, Inc. for Marshall Space Flight
Center. For more information, contact Sammy
Nabors, MSFC Commercialization Assistance
Lead, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. MFS-32810-1

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